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Urban Legends University Trivia Quiz

Welcome to Urban Legends University, where every building tells a story and ever story is true! Let me give you a tour. See how well you know these college-themed legends.

A multiple-choice quiz by czolgolz. Estimated time: 8 mins.

Author
czolgolz

Time
8 mins

Type
Multiple Choice

Quiz #
209,805

Updated
Dec 03 21

# Qns
10

Difficulty
Very Difficult

Avg Score
4 / 10

Plays
7520

Awards
Top 20% Quiz

One at a Time - Single Page - Timed Game

Question 1 of 10

1. Okay, okay, form an orderly group. Behind me you see the Urban Legends U library. Five stories, over ten miles of shelves, and three computer labs. There's just one odd thing about the library. What is it? Hint

The architect failed to take into account the weight of the books. The entire building is sinking.

A benefactor's son died in Pearl Harbor. There are no books about Japan or the Orient.

The cost of the building went way over budget and there was no money left for books. 95% of the shelves are empty.

A homeless family lives in the stacks. The university cannot legally evict them.

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Question 2 of 10

2. Over to my left we find Brunvand Hall, which houses the college of engineering. If you have a sharp eye, you'll notice something unusual about this building. Which of these is NOT a legend about campus building design? Hint

The building was constructed in the late 1960's. It's designed to allow police to easily quell student riots.

A worker fell into the concrete while they were pouring the foundation. His body is still entombed in the basement.

Someone had the plans turned about and it's built backwards (main entrance in the rear, back door facing the street).

The building looks out of place because it was designed for another college. Our building was built on their campus, and nothing can be done.

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Question 3 of 10

3. Up ahead is Mikkelson Hall, which houses the English department. Speaking of English, I had a friend who studied in England for a semester. He once saw a fellow student request, and receive, something very unusual from a professor during an exam. What did he ask for? Hint

cakes and ale

a back rub

the answers to the exam

ten pounds (about seven dollars)

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Question 4 of 10

4. Over here is Pavlov Hall, home of the school of psychology. An interesting thing happened here once. Using positive reinforcement, a class trained their professor to do what? Hint

Lecture sitting Indian style on the floor

Lecture using a high pitched, falsetto voice

Lecture from the top of a waste basket

Lecture with his back to the class

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Question 5 of 10

5. Now this here is Attica Hall. No, it's not a storage shed, wise guy. It's the freshmen dorms. Yes, I know a girl died here last semester...lucky thing her roommate didn't turn on the lights, but that's another story. Seriously though, if your roommate dies, you do get a bit of a bonus. What is it? Hint

Automatic 4.0 GPA (straight A's) for the semester

Free tuition for the year

Free housing for the rest of your time in college

Free off-campus housing for the year

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Question 6 of 10

6. Now here's a lovely building: Monty Hall, the student center. Academics are very important here at ULU. In fact, every semester during finals week we have a mandatory 24 hour quiet period. It used to be 23 1/2 hours, but something unfortunate happened during the half hour of 'noise' time. What happened? Hint

Everyone blasted their radios at the same time and knocked out power for three blocks.

A woman was raped, but no one could hear her screams over all the noise.

Everyone blasted their radios at the same time and blew out every window in the building.

Dozens of students failed their foreign language, public speaking, and other oral exams. They'd spent the half hour screaming and came down with laryngitis.

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Question 7 of 10

7. To my right is Arsenio Hall, the math department. Some of the hardest exams at this school take place here. Of course, students always think of a way to get the better of the instructors. Which of these exam/homework legends REALLY happened? Hint

A student turns in an old paper from his frat's archives. Too bad his professor was the one who wrote it.

A student mistook an 'unsolvable' math problem for homework, and solved it.

A student on speed fills his entire blue book during an exam. In his wired state, he doesn't notice his pen went dead on the second word.

An instructor tells students they can use anything they can carry on an open-book exam. One burly guy carries in a graduate student.

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Question 8 of 10

8. Anyone here planning on going to medical school? It's too far to walk today, but over that ridge is Snopes Hall, the medical school. Once, a medical student played a joke on her uptight roommate, using something stolen from the dissection labs. What did she do? Hint

Spiked the roommate's coffee with formaldehyde.

Left a cadaver's head in the roommate's shower.

Left a cadaver's arm in the roommate's bed.

Left an entire cadaver in the roommate's car.

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Question 9 of 10

9. Here we have Ptomaine Hall, which houses the campus dining services. Which of these stories about campus dining is REALLY true? Hint

Harvard University serves ice cream at every meal, thanks to the behest of a benefactor.

Students at the University of Colorado named a dining hall after a local cannibal.

To save money, a student at Aberdeen University ate nothing but porridge for a semester and came down with scurvy.

A dining hall is famous for its 'secret recipe' meatloaf. The secret ingredient turns out to be peanut butter, and kills a student allergic to peanuts.

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Question 10 of 10

10. We end the tour at Earwig Stadium, the campus football field. You should buy tickets now if you want a seat for the homecoming game. Last year, when the referee walked onto the field, something very odd occurred. What happened, according to the rumor? Hint

He was run over by a go-cart driven by the team's mascot.

He was tackled by an enthusiastic opposing player.

He was inexplicably swarmed by birds.

He was shot by an irate gambler over a bad call from the previous season.

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Quiz Answer Key and Fun Facts

Answer: The architect failed to take into account the weight of the books. The entire building is sinking.

This is a common (though untrue) rumor at several colleges. The same story is sometimes told about sinking swimming pools, when the architect didn't consider the weight of the water.

Answer: A worker fell into the concrete while they were pouring the foundation. His body is still entombed in the basement.

The 'worker in the concrete' legend is old, but it relates to the Hoover Dam.

Many people believe that campus buildings from the late 60's were designed so 'blocky' because they did not want too many students congregating in the same place and taking over the building. The truth is much more mundane: blocky and ugly was the style of the time.

The backwards building legend often ends with the architect killing himself when he sees how his dream has been betrayed.

Several campuses claim that a building looks out of place (white stone on a campus of red brick, for instance) because it was designed for a rival school. No one discovered the error until it was too late.

Another campus legend is that a dorm was designed by the architect who built the state prison...but the dorms have less floor space than the prison cells.

Answer: cakes and ale

This legend takes place at an old English university, such as Cambridge or Oxford. According to the legend, the student demanded cakes and ale during the exam. The professor told him to get back to work. The student then produced the school rule book, which dated back hundreds of years, and displayed the obscure, never removed clause: 'Any student sitting an exam may request cakes and ale.'

The professor sends an assistant out for the modern day equivalent, a burger and Coke. The student thinks he's really pulled one over on the professor until the next lecture, when the instructor fines him five pounds for not wearing his ceremonial sword to class.

4. Over here is Pavlov Hall, home of the school of psychology. An interesting thing happened here once. Using positive reinforcement, a class trained their professor to do what?

Answer: Lecture from the top of a waste basket

At the beginning of the year the students only paid attention when the professor stood on the right side of the room. Then they only paid attention when he was near the waste basket. Then when he put his foot on the waste basket. Finally, using only positive reinforcement, the class 'trained' the professor to lecture from atop the basket, much like a trained seal.

Other legends involve the professor lecturing standing on one leg or only writing on a tiny corner of the blackboard.

Answer: Automatic 4.0 GPA (straight A's) for the semester

This is a persistent rumor, but untrue. The rumor was the subject of the forgettable movie 'Dead Man on Campus.'

Answer: A woman was raped, but no one could hear her screams over all the noise.

The idea of screaming for help and no one hearing (or caring) is common in folklore.

Answer: A student mistook an 'unsolvable' math problem for homework, and solved it.

Though it sounds like a legend, it happened in 1939 to a student named George Dantzig. He showed up late for class, mistook the unsolvable problem for homework, and dutifully solved it. His professor later contacted him, having prepared his work for publication. This legend appears in the 1997 movie 'Rushmore.'

The other three legends are classics, but never really occurred.

Answer: Left a cadaver's arm in the roommate's bed.

The roommate is always portrayed as obnoxious, aloof, or somehow deserving of the treatment. Her roommate is a medical (or nursing) student. She leaves the arm in the roommate's bed (or dangling from the closet light cord). When the medical student returns, she finds to her horror that the prank drove the roommate insane, and she's now sitting on the floor gnawing on the severed limb.

This way to the cafeteria!

9. Here we have Ptomaine Hall, which houses the campus dining services. Which of these stories about campus dining is REALLY true?

Answer: Students at the University of Colorado named a dining hall after a local cannibal.

One of the dining halls at the University of Colorado is, in fact, named the Alferd Packer Grill. Packer was the only man in the US to be convicted of cannibalism.

Harvard explains the perpetual ice cream by saying 'students like it.'

The scurvy story is primarily British, though sometimes told in the US, with ramen noodles instead of porridge.

Answer: He was inexplicably swarmed by birds.

It seems an MIT student spent a summer spreading birdseed on Harvard's field, while dressed in a black and white shirt. When the ref stepped on the field, the birds swarmed down to get their treat. The student wrote his thesis on this and graduated.

Well, thank you for your attention. For more information, check out the books by Jan Harold Brunvand or visit us online at http://www.snopes.com/college/college.asp And if you ever meet anyone calling himself the Ether Bunny, watch your back.

Source: Author czolgolz

This quiz was reviewed by FunTrivia editor Exit10 before going online.
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